The Diego Diaries: After School (dd6 247)
-0-In a youth club, Iacon
"How many do you need, Rambler?"
Rambler Prime glanced at Quadrus. "I think I'm good, Quadrus."
"Anyone else?" he asked and got no takers. They anted up, then stared at their cards. "What are you doing this weekend?"
Rambler glanced up. "We're going camping."
"Sounds like fun," Lumi said as he glanced at his science partner.
"You're coming, too," Rambler said. "Hasn't Uncle Ratchet told you yet?"
"No." -nine big kids
-0-Ratchet on the way to the office again
:Ada:
:What, Lumi? Where are you and where is everyone else?: -Ratchet
:We're at the club in Iacon with Rambler. Are we going camping this weekend?: -Lumi
Ratchet grinned. :Yes. We were going to surprise you:
:You did. Thanks, Ada: -Lumi
:For you infants, the moon: Ratchet said as he entered the building to go upward.
-0-At the Hangar District nearby
He blew a bale of fire upward but it didn't burn anything. It dissipated in the air as most of it fell backward onto Slag. He shook his helm, then ran forward. Kappa gripped him, then stood. Holding him before her, she was talking to him firmly when he blew another bale of fire at her hand. That was when he fell about 5-600 feet to the floor below.
It would be written in the annals that he landed on his peds, broke both his hydraulic struts, then fell over to spray fire everywhere. He lay on the floor bellowing and spraying fire, driving everyone away from him as he did. The other Dinobot, Sludge pulled back as the door of their big apartment nearby opened and the boss hog of them all, the mighty Grimlock walked out to see what the frag was going on.
"SLAG! WHAT HAPPENED!?" he bellowed, then glanced up at Kappa.
"There was a disagreement, Grimlock, then he charged me. I picked him up to discuss things with him and he burned me. I dropped him to the floor. I think he's lame," Kappa said with more kindness than most.
Grimlock looked from her to him. "Slag, you idiot. You broke your legs?"
"FRAG YOU, GRIMLOCK! I WILL MESS YOU UP!" Slag said as he floundered on the floor.
Standing around the area in the midst of the hoo-haw, worker bees and others related to the area and its work watched with something akin to slightly heightened boredom. Apparently, this sort of thing happened here often, the mercs thought.
"That fall would have killed the rest of us," Carlos said stating the obvious. Everyone was so amazed at the sight that they nodded silently. "These guys are crazy. Look at Grimlock's face."
They did. It was truly scary.
The sound of a siren outside was heard, then a red and white hummer-type search and rescue vehicle careened in, drove up, then transformed into Ratchet. He walked forward, just outside the blast radius of Slag's fire feature, then looked up at Kappa. "I heard you got burned, Kappa."
She knelt, then showed her hand. "Just a touch."
Ratchet scanned, then sprayed the area with something that he transformed out of a digit finger. "How's that feel now, Kappy?" he asked.
"Much better. What about Slag? He fell from my hand a good 5-600 feet and broke his legs, I think," she asked as they both glanced at the furious bot laying on the floor.
"Slag, let me see your legs," Ratchet said. "I don't want any crap when I do. You will never walk again if you don't let me. Tell him, Grimlock."
"SLAG! LET HIM FIX YOU!"
Slag glared at Grimlock, then Ratchet. "FIX ME AND I WILL BEAT YOUR AFT, SLUDGE!"
Sludge shrugged. "No, you won't."
Slag glared at Ratchet who walked forward to look him over. "Frag. You broke both of your hydraulic struts. You need replacements. I'm going to call the prison. The best orthopedist is working there today to fix a few things. I'm going to give you to him to do the job. Just let him, Slag. If you don't I'm going to get the biggest hammer I have and use it on your slagging head. Understand?"
"I'm not afraid of you," Slag said darkly.
"Then we can leave your sorry aft this way. You can crawl after mechs with your spite."
"FRAG YOU, RATCHET!" Slag said.
Ratchet hauled off and punched him in the face. Slag fell back and the birdies began to sing. Producing a meter out of thin air, he punched in a code and Slag fell into a heap. "I'm not going to allow him to beat up my doctors, Grimlock. I'll put him back to rights when this is over. I called the ambulance from the prison and they're coming." Ratchet stood up and walked over to stand beside Grimlock. "How you feeling since the last surgery?"
"I feel fine." He looked at Ratchet. "How many more?"
"I'm still studying what that slagger did to you but a few. Not as many as you'd think given what happened. Are things clearer and faster?" Ratchet asked.
Grimlock nodded. "They are. Slag doesn't want this and the others, they do. I think we all need it. I'm going to kill Shockwave."
"Stand in line," Ratchet said. He knew Grimlock was aware of where Shockwave was. It didn't hurt anyway to have a dream. He grinned. "Here they come."
A vehicle drove in, then pulled up. Three mechs climbed out, traded slag, then hauled Slag into the back. Away they went and the place became quiet again. Ratchet looked way up. "Need anything else?"
"No, Ratchet," Kappa said with a grin. "I'm fine. You, Grimlock?"
He shook his helm. "I'm fine," he said, then walked back into his apartment nearby, the one he shared with the others. Sludge nodded to both, then followed. It was then that Ratchet noticed the vehicle down the way with mercenaries in it.
-0-Water Park at the Mall of the Tri-Cities
They stood at the edge of the surging pool, the massive one that was the main swimming area. Some bots were shooting out of the various slides, landing with huge splashes in the water. Standing together watching them fly, Annie Lennox, Lucy and Bobby Epps, James Hoyt, Sandy Thomas, Camilla Baker, Jaycee Jameson, Lilly Brown, Lindsey and Elliott May were gathered. The last two were just transferred to Terradive's room capping him at 27. They were found to be compatible to his program and teaching style so they were moved. They were the son and daughter of the chef at Earth2 who had decided they wanted this experience rather than attend the in-house International School.
All of them were out of school for conferences, had heard that Annie and Lucy wanted to go to the pool and had asked to come along. They crammed into a vehicle, then jetted over after ascertaining permissions from relevant adults. Now, they stood on the side of the big pool with Will Lennox, Ron Witwicky and Bobby Epps.
:How deep is this pool?: Elliott asked as the waves rolled past them down below the water line.
:This pool is 140 feet deep. You're not going in it: Will Lennox said. :You're going over here: he said as he turned to the other three pools, all of them of graduated size and difficulty. :This is the deepest you're going into: He pointed to the biggest of the three, one that ran in depth from 2 to 30 feel deep. :You can play here but nowhere else:
The kids glanced at each other, then Annabelle ran forward and cannon balled in. The others followed. The three men watched them a moment, then glanced back to see a group of mechs careen out of the slide, fly through the air, then land in the water to disappear together. :I would pay a lot to be able to do that: Ron Witwicky said. The other two nodded. It would be a long and pleasant afternoon at the swimming hole.
-0-Hangar District
Ratchet walked toward the vehicle, pausing before it. He had checked their status through Ops Center and found that Special Ops wanted them to wander. Kneeling down, he looked through the window of the vehicle. :You would do well to avoid this area. It's unpredictable:
:We noticed: Silvio said with a grin. :You laid that Dinobot out with one punch:
:I only look like a pushover: Ratchet said with a slight grin. :Where are you headed?:
:We're seeing the sights: Silvio said non committally.
Ratchet nodded. :Best head out of here. No sense being on the wrong side of a Dinobot. You would regret it greatly:
:Got it, Ambassador. Thanks: Silvio said as he put the vehicle in gear. Pulling forward, he headed out to the airfield and a drive through the area to the Cultural Center Road.
Ratchet watched them go, then followed them outward, scanning a vehicle parked nearby. Transforming, he rolled after them. They wouldn't know who he was beyond the dark gray hummer following them in normal traffic.
-0-Down the road
They drove on the sidewalk and slowed before the door of Club Cybertron. "Here's that bar that's so famous. I heard some of the worst bastards they have here hang out inside," Sam Hedges said. "Let's go in and look around."
They sat a moment silently thinking about it, then Silvio drove toward the door. As they entered the bar, Ratchet transformed, charged his main profile back and walked inside. This might not be so good.
The vehicle drove into the lounge, slowing as it went, then pulled to one side. They sat in the cab watching the patrons, many of whom were sitting at tables drinking and eating. A group nearby sat at two tables, ominously scary dudes with a lot of armed individuals around them. They watched the humans with feral gazes, ones that were hard to meet.
"This place is scary. Let's go before we get in trouble," Todd Baseman said.
"We aren't doing anything. Let's see what happens," Larry Dobbs said. He turned in his seat to look around, catching the gaze of Barricade. "Fuck. Look at that one."
Everyone turned to look, then a guard stepped away from the group and walked over. He knelt beside the vehicle. "What are you doing in here?" he asked.
:We're looking around the colony. We've seen this place on Platoon so we came in to look: Silvio said.
"You need to leave. Those mechs with us would kill you for sport and they have before. This isn't a place for you. None of the bars on world here are for newbie humans. You need to come with the N.E.S.T. mechs if you come at all: the guard, a huge Seeker said.
The humans looked at him, then Silvio nodded. :Understood: he said turning on the vehicle again. The mech moved as they backed up and drove back out missing spotting Ratchet by the bar.
Ratchet waved to the guard, then followed the humans out, transforming into his gray hummer costume as he did. Pulling up behind the humans, he drove off with them, intrigued by their chutzpah and nerve.
-0-Ops Center
"So, we're going to the Valles this weekend and all is reserved. What you have to do is barbecue for the lot of us," Prowl said. "I know that all of you have a barbecue because you thought it would be the next Thanksgiving debacle and you wanted to be a winner. Remember?"
Prime stared at him as did Ironhide, Raptor, Blackjack, Hard Drive, and Alor. They were here to give their latest district reports, then half go back while half went off duty. It was silent from the lot of them, then Prowl glanced at Alor. "Not you, Alie. Just these slackers."
"What?" Ironhide asked. "You want me to barbecue?"
"Yes. The best barbecue wins," Prowl said as he found himself warming to the slag. "So sayeth the Loon."
"Oh frag," Prime said. "How do you barbecue?" he asked as he glanced at the others.
"Don't ask me," Hard Drive said.
-0-Nearing the Shrine of the Thirteenth Prime and the Primal Basilica
The humans drove toward the Basilica, then pulled up in the parking lot. They stayed inside a moment, Ratchet noted, then after a scan for their gear by their vehicle which he could see, all of them climbed out to stand in the lot and stare around. Ratchet pulled up nearby, then watched as they began to walk toward the shrine that was placed near the Basilica just like it was on Cybertron. He buzzed the Ops Center. "Ratchet to Prowl and the Messiah of our People."
"What, Loon?" Prowl's voice said. "I'm explaining barbecue to the clueless right now."
"Awesome. I want to know if the mercs have the right to enter the Shrine to the Thirteenth Prime?"
Prime considered that. "Go in with them and watch what they do. If they do anything but act properly, send for the Watch, Ratchet. By the way, how do you make brisket?"
Ratchet laughed. "YOU'RE ASKING ME!? I'm on it. Ratchet out."
They sat silently at the command table, then all of them together hit the internet. It was quiet and intense for a few moments. Prowl watched them with great amusement. Ratchet, on the other hand, transformed back and followed the humans at a distance as they climbed the steps and walked across the platform for the shrine.
-0-TBC 1-15-18 edited 1-23-18